00:00People went out and stopped, amazed. A viscous substance covered the ground.
00:06White gelatine masses had transformed the outside world into a scene from a scary science fiction movie.
00:14This mystery has aroused many debates, and experts have proposed different theories.
00:18But it turned out that the situation was even worse than we thought before.
00:22The masses would have made sick the people who had touched them.
00:26But let's start from the very beginning.
00:28It was the summer of 1994 in the forest town of Oakville, when gelatine masses were discovered on the ground.
00:36People thought they were no longer seeing the sky, because where else could they have come from?
00:41This discovery caused panic and confusion among the residents of the region.
00:45But in reality, it was simply the first appearance of this viscous substance.
00:50Gelatine particles, which were in fact smaller than a grain of rice, fell from the sky several times.
00:56The volume was very high, and when they accumulated on the ground and on the sloping roofs, they became visible.
01:03About ten days after the first occurrence, a newspaper wrote an article on the spots.
01:09Apart from that, there did not seem to be any other confirmed and official reports on this mysterious substance.
01:16Until an employee of the National Meteorological Service in the region received a call from an unidentified man in August.
01:23The man claimed that hot metallic particles falling from the sky had burned holes in his children's trampoline.
01:29Apparently, it was time to examine Oakville blobs.
01:32A hospital would have examined them under a microscope and made a terrifying discovery.
01:37Researchers have declared that the substance contained human white blood cells.
01:42This led some to assume that the blobs were probably fluid waste concentrated from the toilets of an airplane.
01:50This theory was refuted after a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration
01:55explained that the toilets' fluids were generally tinted blue, which earned them the nickname Blue Ice.
02:02Another theory trying to explain Oakville blobs suggested that they had something to do with jellyfish.
02:08Some experts have argued that this idea was plausible.
02:11Something the size of pieces of jellyfish could have been sucked into the atmosphere and moved to another place during a storm.
02:18After all, raining animals is not new.
02:21But we'll talk about it later.
02:23At the same time, six events of Oakville blobs falling from the sky have been reported.
02:28Which made it difficult to imagine jellyfish particles floating in the sky for so long.
02:33On August 20, 1994, the New York Times reported that the mysterious sticky substance had once been alive.
02:41This article followed an analysis carried out by the Department of Ecology of the State of Washington.
02:47The scientist who had tested the blobs announced that they had discovered that the substance contained a number of different sized cells.
02:55Interesting fact, these results ended the theory of human white blood cells.
03:00Because it turned out that the cells did not have a nucleus.
03:03But this is something you will certainly see in human white blood cells.
03:07And in jellyfish as well.
03:09These creatures are multicellular organisms whose cells contain nuclei.
03:14But what type of life would not have a nucleus?
03:17For example, bacteria and some other microorganisms similar to them.
03:23An expert working on this mystery has stated that jellyfish had no clearly visible structure.
03:29And this was not even revealed when they used a microscope.
03:33In the end, researchers concluded that the substance contained two types of bacteria.
03:39Both present in the digestive tract of humans and other mammals.
03:43They were also often found when waste was deposited.
03:48These bacteria could move in water and air.
03:53The viscous substance could be a kind of transport system.
03:57Unfortunately, scientists admitted that they had no concrete evidence to support their idea.
04:03To add to the mystery, the samples would have disappeared before the researchers could finish their work.
04:10But is it true that the strange drops made people sick?
04:14At first glance, yes.
04:16Some residents of Oakville reported being sick and having felt symptoms similar to those of the flu after touching the drops of Oakville.
04:24But was this a direct consequence?
04:27Nobody knows.
04:29Experts admit that the cases of disease could have been a coincidence.
04:34Which makes the incident even more intriguing.
04:37So far, the mystery remains unsolved.
04:40Now, let's move on to other things falling from the sky.
04:44Bad news.
04:45Some can be totally disgusting.
04:48Like glasses falling from the sky in China and twirling on people's cars.
04:53Some people thought it was an animal rain, while others were not convinced.
04:59They said the video was fake because the glasses were only on the vehicles and not on the ground.
05:06Others were sure that the rain was a normal thing in March.
05:11Luckily, Berk is not where I live.
05:14But the most shocking thing?
05:16Strange rains of glasses also occurred in the British Isles.
05:21For example, in Scotland, children were playing football when glasses began to fall from the sky.
05:27The reason could be a major climate change or who knows what.
05:31But the cases of animal rain actually started a long time ago.
05:35In 1877, an unusual tornado hit a farm in southern California,
05:41bringing with it several small alligators about 0.3 meters long.
05:47In 1894, a tornado crossed England,
05:51dropping venomous jellyfish on people's heads.
05:54Although some witnesses claimed that they were not jellyfish but tethers,
05:59the incident was still extremely strange.
06:03In 1876, in Kentucky, a black humor rain was recorded.
06:08That's when pieces of meat fell from the sky.
06:12Now, let me tell you.
06:14If you are sensitive, you could want to skip this part.
06:17Okay, I warned you.
06:19Residents claimed that the meat tasted like sheep.
06:23But later, researchers discovered that vultures flying above the region
06:28must have felt bad and gurgled their meals directly into the air.
06:32Berk! I told you!
06:34All these cases are examples of animal rain.
06:38It is a rare meteorological phenomenon in which animals unable to fly fall from the sky.
06:43Such cases have been reported throughout history, starting in 1794,
06:49when French soldiers saw toads falling to the ground
06:53in heavy rain near the French city of Lille.
06:57How did this rain happen?
07:00It could be different depending on the species.
07:03For example, frogs and toads often nest in large numbers in the countryside.
07:08Strong winds can lift them and carry them over long distances.
07:13Let's take the fish now.
07:15In 1861, there was a sign of fish rain in Singapore,
07:19and a naturalist speculated that at that time,
07:22a migration of walking catfish could be underway.
07:26Thus, the wind could have transported them from one puddle of water to another,
07:30as if they had followed the rain.
07:32In any case, the most common explanation of such cases is that there is no real fall.
07:37Animals are simply dragged by the winds or something similar.
07:41This can also explain why it is generally reported that only one animal species falls from the sky.
07:47Another probable explanation concerns marine storms.
07:51These are tornadoes forming above the water.
07:54A marine storm can potentially transport animals at relatively high altitudes
07:59and take them to remote places.
08:01This idea is supported by the suggestion that animal rains are often preceded by storms.
08:07At the same time, this theory does not explain why each incident concerns only one species,
08:13and not a group of animals of similar size from the same habitat.
08:18Here are some other examples of animal rains.
08:21In 1947, fish began to fall from the sky in Louisiana.
08:25And in 2005, there were no more frogs in Serbia.
08:29In 2010, a small town in Australia experienced a rain of perches.
08:34These phenomena were most likely caused by tornadoes,
08:37lifting objects from the ground and water to drop them in totally different regions.
08:43Sometimes, even iguanas can fall on your head.
08:47When it's really cold, they go into hibernation mode to survive.
08:51But even if they can freeze, they are still alive.
08:55When it's warmer, they start moving again.
08:58But unfortunately, in this cold state, they can fall from trees,
09:02which is dangerous both for the animals themselves and for the passers-by.
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